Browns notes: Cornerback Dimitri Patterson is waived (with video)

The move came as a bit of a surprise. Patterson was on the field for 35 (47 percent) of the plays involving the Browns' defense Sunday in a 38-21 loss to the Redskins.

Coach Pat Shurmur will explain his decision Wednesday.

Patterson, 29, missed seven games this season with an ankle injury. Originally, he was told he would miss only two weeks, but he ended up missing close to half the season with what he said was a partially torn ligament.

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Patterson started all four games Joe Haden missed during a suspension for using Adderall. Patterson was injured in the first half of the game against the Giants. Haden returned a week later.

Haden and Patterson missed the game in Dallas. Haden sat out with an oblique injury. Patterson also missed the next game (vs. Oakland), the seventh in the stretch, because he said he wasn't ready.

"Everybody has independent contracts, and you all have to put good stuff on film at the end of the day," Patterson said on Nov. 19. "No one's going to step in for me and say 'I forgot. He had an ankle.' No, they're going to be, 'He just got beat for three touchdowns.' That's the reality of the situation."

Patterson's first game back was against the Chiefs on Dec. 9. He played 25 defensive snaps (46 percent) and assisted on one tackle. He made two tackles Sunday.

Buster Skrine will likely assume Patterson's role as the nickelback -- the position Skrine played while Patterson was starting at left cornerback and the next three games when Patterson was inactive.

Skrine was on the field for only one play Sunday. He is third on the team with 63 tackles.

Think first, Trent

Shurmur was not pleased about Trent Richardson second-guessing play-calling after the Browns lost to the Redskins.

Richardson carried nine times for 28 yards and two rushing touchdowns in the first half. He carried it twice for no yards in the second half and said he was "shocked" he didn't get more carries.

The Browns led, 14-10, at halftime. The Redskins scored 14 points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth.

"I think we've just got a game plan, and the game plan we had at the beginning of the game, I think we should've stuck with it," Richardson told a group of reporters. "But we didn't stick with the game plan, and we tried to do some other stuff, and the outcome came in a different way."

When the Browns were in Dallas, Richardson was stopped on a third-and-1 at the goal line on a run up the middle. Three days later, he said he would have preferred a different play.

"I talked to Trent," Shurmur said Monday, sounding fatherly. "I explained to him that after a game he'll be asked questions. I think it's very important. I asked him what he meant by what he said. I said it's very important that when we're all in the state of being disappointed we lost that we keep our focus on regrouping and getting ready to play the next game."

Shurmur said he would like to call more run plays, but the score Sunday dictated using more passes.

No injury update

Shurmur said he had no injury update on safety T.J. Ward or defensive end Frostee Rucker. Ward suffered a knee injury and Rucker a groin injury on Sunday.